When I first arrived here at Yazoo city prison, I had to spend my first night in the SHU. They didn’t have my information, but Jordan’s, so I had to be put in the SHU. Where people are put for punishing. I thought, figures, this abuse never seems to end. But I saw a Gideon Bible and read it and said, may Your will be done my LORD Jesus… Well, the following day I was allowed to go to the unit I am in today. Even though I am in a place not really run like a LOW, more like a Medium. I can see in ways why God wanted me here, so I try to keep that in mind. That God allowed the extra abuse for His glory. Like I said, I try to, but at times I myself lose heart. Then I get back up again and keep on going. Sometimes just dragging my feet, figuratively speaking.
What I have noticed in times of suffering that many people seem to try and do it on their own, and I have seen people fall apart, lose their mind and at times lose their faith and hope in Jesus. It comes with the territory; this is part of the trials of our faith. I see how important it is to find your fellow believing brothers and sisters and to spend time with them. Helping each other, praying together, reading and studying the Bible, encouraging each other, eating together, working out, and more. We need family, we were made for unity. God is three in One. As Jesus said in John 17:5-” And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
We also need companionship, especially in times of trouble. Well, after a few days that I had arrived in this unit. I was speaking to a guy from Honduras and gave him my testimony. He said why don’t you come to the prayer meeting/Bible study him and a few guys do almost every night. So of course I did. There I met, Palacio, Jose and Freddy, besides Misael who invited me. I began to go and listen and participate in prayer and after a few days they asked me to share and I began to share and continue to do so up to this day.
Palacio and I take turns reading Bible passages, while we all take turns praying. Misael went home a few months ago but we continue to get together, and here and there a few others join, like R who I wrote about in a previous post. We also share meals together, have coffee time. (Which is a blessed time, because we end up talking, laughing and sharing stories but also, we observe what God is doing in our daily lives and the lives of others. I love coffee time. When I was a kid, we had a coffee farm that would give work to the people of a church that God used dad to establish way back in the early 2000’s. To this day that building still is used as a church. A pastor lives in it and continues the work of the LORD. The people of the church work the land, plant food on it which helps the families there. Before I was locked up, my wife, Jordan and I and anyone wanting to help, would send Boxes of Love to this church, other churches and well different neighborhoods we knew that needed help. It was on our site G2 Worldwide missions. The boxes of 250 lbs. consisted of mostly clothes and shoes and other essentials for people of all ages. We would collect and purchase them throughout the year and send 2-3 boxes a year. It would help from 200-300 families, if not more. I have cried and still do sometimes seeing that mission my wife and I did with loving hearts be destroyed. I also look back at all that we were doing in the Genesis II Church and the lives being saved, not only physically, but more importantly spiritually. And I wonder sometimes, why did it have to end LORD? It was true from our hearts that work LORD. Why does the evil prosper?)
Well let’s get back to me and the guys in our prayer meetings. Palacio and Jose (Freddy was and is), were not going to church services when I arrived. They saw the division in the church and didn’t want part of it. But as they have got to know me and seen how I am trying always to bring the leaders/elders of the church together in unity. And that I don’t give up. They have for months now been going to the services. You see, people will follow a true example, our lives must be a living sacrifice of service to the LORD Jesus Christ. I want to thank God not only for the brothers in Christ that I have met and grown spiritually with during this very difficult time in my life, but also all of you brothers and sisters praying and supporting us in this time of need. May God bless you all, your love is felt in here not only by me, but all and everyone’s life that the LORD uses me to touch…
Jose, Palacio and Freddy are more active speaking of their faith with others now. As they see it done in my life they get encouraged and join in the good fight. We must live for Jesus, nothing else matters. Because when we do, our loved ones also see it and will be touched by it. If you truly love your family, friends and anyone for that matter, you will give your life to Jesus.
I love you all
A Pilgrim prisoners’ journal
David
Current Pilgrim Prisoner: https://the-river-in-a-desert-ministry.com/letter-from-bishop-jonathan-pilgrim-prisoner
Leave a Reply